Is the Web Browser Replacing the Art Gallery?
>> MIKE: Here’s an idea: Your web browser is replacing the art gallery. theme I don’t know about you guys, but when I’m in the mood to see some visionary, super new visual art, I think to myself, “Let’s go to the gallery.” And not, “Let’s stay in the kitchen and sit at the computer in our pajamas.” But the fact of the matter is that many of the art world’s best, newest, and most challenging artworks are viewable only... and very impressive voice: ON THE INTERNET! Bum, bum bummm! Since the mid eighteenth century, we’ve been going to galleries and museums to view artworks. Like, real locations in meat space where you can eat cheese and touch people and fall down and stuff. There’s some kind of hard to explain feeling you get when you’re standing in front of something you know Renoir actually painted. This feeling is really elusive and hard to recreate without actually being there. And this has always been the importance of the gallery. It provides a place where the art world can coalesce. It brings all of the newest, greatest art thinkers together and gives the public a place to lose their shit over the newest Rauchenburg or a Brillo box. But now a lot of the most interesting and challenging stuff has moved out of the gallery, a place which is probably not near where you live, and to the internet, which is here, right now, in front of you. ding, ding The new hotness in the arts isn’t hanging on a wall somewhere really hard to get to, it’s chilling on a server just a few tippity-taps away. I don’t actually type like this. I type like this. Stuff like hyper geography, a tumblr which isn’t so much a blog as it is a visual cacophony of... my God. Takeshi Murata’s Pink Dot, which turns Rambo into a seething, drippy mess of video. Or John Rathman’s 9-eyes, which presents Google street view photos as portraits and landscapes and candid photos. These are all works which are not only amazing and arresting, but also don’t need a gallery. Sure, Ryan Trecartin, Olia Lialina, Even Roth are all internet artists who’ve had their awesome internet artworks shown at real museums, like real real, like you could eat cheese there real. But you didn’t have to go there because these works also live online. Just because it’s available to everyone, that doesn’t make internet artwork any less important or moving. In many senses, internet art’s extreme accessibility is the exact opposite of the gallery. It’s also a way to provide an art experience that isn’t anything like standing in front of something made by one of those long dead, not internet having masters but is just as relevant. Or maybe even more relevant. Because we can experience amazing, cutting edge art as part of our daily lives. I can experience great art as easily as I can buy this kitty pillow. meow Both are just a few clicks away. Art critic Robert Hughes said that the truly significant work of art is the one that prepares the future. And if internet artworks aren’t doing that, I’m not sure what is. What do you guys think? Can you have an art experience through your computer screen? Let us know in the comments. And if you haven’t, you should subscribe... just click on my face. Twitter, am I right? Let’s see what you guys had to say: DrFaustVII says it’s not that tweeting is an art, but that it can be used to create art. Which is a pretty nice summation of the episode. Stupiddorkdancer and Atlein make mention of small Spanish language storie call cuentitos which sound really cool. A bunch of people made mention of Ernest Hemmingway’s very short, very serious story which goes: “For sale. Baby shoes. Never used.” Which would have been a very depressing tweet. marciasarah asks if social media is changing language and jaxofspades87 responds that it’s probably not too different from the past. You stupid monkey. mattii brings up the idea of cell phone novels which is an idea that we had but didn’t end up including. It’s actually really interesting, you should go read the Wikipedia entry on it because the episode’s over now. theme Category:English Category:Complete